TILLAMOOK, Ore. – A new boat slide on the Wilson River near Tillamook is bound to make a splash with anglers this fall.

The new steel-reinforced ramp designed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and built on the agency’s property at Siskeyville will make launching drift boats easier, more efficient and, most of all safer.

“I think people are going to be impressed and pleased when they use this slide,” said Robert Bradley, assistant district fish biologist for ODFW’s North Coast Watershed District. “It’s designed to allow efficient boat launching in a safe manner and built to last a long, long time.”

The 90-foot-long structure is a vast improvement over an older slide on the same site that was undermined by heavy flooding the past couple of years, according to Bradley.

The new structure is made of concrete supports, steel I-beams, and pressure-treated timbers. A steel grip-strut staircase with handrails runs the length of the wooden ramp, giving boaters better footing as they walk their craft down the slide and push off into the river.

The new launch is located on ODFW property adjoining the Wilson River about eight miles east of Tillamook on Hwy. 6. It is now ready for use and gives boaters access to approximately six miles of prime fishing and wildlife viewing habitat on the lower section of the Wilson, one of Oregon’s most scenic and popular fall chinook salmon, winter steelhead and cutthroat trout streams. More than 1,000 boaters, including many from the Portland area, are expected to use the slide from mid-October to late May.